Disavowing an Implied Term of Fairness

Abstract

In the Court of Appeal decision in Burn v Alder Hey (Burn), there are obiter suggestions that the employment contract contains an implied term that would require the employer to act fairly during a disciplinary process. In a recent article in this journal, Collins and Golding (the authors) endorse this direction of travel and explore what they see as a number of advantages that would accrue for employees (and other workers) should the courts hold that such a term is indeed part of the law of contract. This article seeks to argue that recognition of the term would be misguided.